Why I love.... Heinz Baked Beans - Around and Upside down

This is the first post in a new mini-series I shall be embarking on. The concept is pretty simple, but I want to start adding a little more structure to my blog posting, and this is step one. The ‘why I love…’ series is essentially me waxing lyrical about why I enjoy some fairly day to day things that are part of my life, and why I think they could make a welcome addition to yours, if they haven’t already. I’m starting small, but I think that sometimes when we add up all the little things that make our life that little bit sweeter, they can add up to, well, more than a hill of beans.

I like to eat healthily where I can, but do so on a shoestring. I can’t, as per Jamie Oliver ‘pop to the farmers market for a handful of mange toute’ for dinner. The idea that people can shop fresh every day is a quaint one, but not workable for most people, including myself. I order online and get my shopping delivered once a week. I can buy fresh things for the first 2-3 days of that week, but after that it’s touch and go. I know I don’t buy food just for it to end up in the bin. To that end, I tend to use a mixture of tinned and frozen foods when I cook, especially as the week goes on. This bad boy pictured above is one of my current favourites, and here’s why.

All baked beans are good a good source of protein and soluble fibre. They are also low in fat and count as 1 of your 5 a day. Bemoaned for decades as the last resort for an impoverished student, baked beans (which are made with haricot beans) are actually a very sensible choice when you are looking for something healthy, filling, and relatively inexpensive. Heinz Five Beanz in tomato sauce contain red kidney, haricot, pinto, borlotti and cannellini. Their moniker of ‘beans for grown ups’ is very fitting, especially when you consider the health benefits of legumes.

These are my partners favourite beans. Like alot of males, he likes it spicy (ooh, err). He’s also not to keen on a basic tomato sauce, so these are ideal. Heinz now do flavours such as cheese, curry and barbecue. Personally I found the cheese ones a little bland for my taste, but I loved the other varieties. Actually when I looked further into the range, I found out they even make organic beans, which is great for those who love natural products. Details of everything available under the Heinz brand can be found here.

The moral of the story here is that when you’re completely spent at the end of the day, something like beans on toast is in fact a good choice. I often use them in chillis, cottage pie and casseroles to. For those, I generally but the supermarkets own value range, but for a stand alone meal or side dish, for me is has to be Heinz.

Last nights dinner for me was 3 sausages (I always buy the quality premium ones with a high meat content), mashed spuds, and 1/2 tin Heinz 5 beanz. A pretty balanced meal if I do say so myself. I know I need to work on my portion size a little, but my point is that this is the sort of meal that’s pretty easy to put on the table for a family, as part of a balanced diet. The flavoured varieties can also be found currently in Tesco at 3 for £2.

So, today I salute you humble bean. Thank you for making my diet rich in protein and fibre, and for presenting me with many a humorous ditty to sing while I am stirring you.

Are you a lover of beans and other canned and frozen foods, or do you dismiss them out of hand? I’d love to hear your comments and opinions, as they never fail to make me smile.

14 thoughts on “Why I love…. Heinz Baked Beans”

The concept of a 'Why I love..' series is good, Vicky. Looking forward to more such posts. While I aim to cook from scratch and cook fresh, I do stock canned and frozen foods for those days when I am lazy or just not in a mood to cook 🙂

We love heinz beans and the facr there is a chilli version is good news.

Great post and nice to read something a bit different. We do a mixture of cooking from fresh and frozen really depending on our working day. Helen X http://www.allthebeautifulthings.co.uk

This is a good idea – Get people excited about basic things, again, there's so much that can be done with beans and people, often do, forget the positive attributes that the simple little morsel contains xx

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Thanks Dee. I love fresh, but it's good to have a stock of good frozen food (such as peas) and good tinned (tomatos, chick peas etc) that you can use to throw something together when you're at the end of your weeks fresh grocery shop 🙂

They are so good Nayna – defo worth a try 🙂

Thanks Laura x

Thanks Helen x

We love Heinz beans, so much so that I buy very expensive imported ones here in the US 🙂 #PoCoLo

wow I had no idea ther were different types of Heinz beans – I'll have to keep and eye out for them. we try to have a beans on toast or jacket potato and beans meal once a week to help keep the shopping ills down, but we always end up saying how tasty the meal was afterwards, sometimes you just need nice simple food.

Lucas says – I LOVE baked beans – they're really yummy. I also like the way they make my bottom sing afterwards!!!!!! #pocolo

I love beans, unfortunately in my house I'm in the minority. This means I can't enjoy beans in a casserole or even the humble beans on toast. I do occasionally sneak a jacket potato with beans but very rarely. I love your post Vicky. #PoCoLo

What a great idea. I love baked beans – and I sometimes add Worcester sauce to give them extra pep! Thank you for linking to PoCoLo x

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14 thoughts on “Why I love…. Heinz Baked Beans”

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